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Ultraman Taro
is the sixth installment of the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions and TBS, it was broadcast from April 6, 1973 to April 5, 1974 on TBS, with a total of 53 episodes. At the time ratings were falling, and as Tsuburaya felt Ace had been a bit too dark at times, they took a lighter approach in Taro to please children. Ironically, this lost even more views from elder fans, causing the series to be followed by Ultraman Leo, often considered the darkest and grittiest entry in the Showa series. Taro is one of the most typical name of a boy in otogi-banashi''s, or, Japanese fairy tales. The producer said, 'Ultraman Taro is going to be the fairy tale in the Ultra Series'. Plot Kotaro Higashi wanted to be a championship boxer. However, fate had other plans as he fell thousands of feet from the Earth while chasing after Astromons, a new creature in the third age of monsters. The Five Ultra Brothers brought Kotaro's body to their home world of Nebula M78 many years into the past. It was there that Mother of Ultra merged Kotaro with Ultraman Taro, who would now form the Six Ultra Brothers. Before merging with Kotaro, Taro spent many years to hone his skills similar to the original Five Ultra Brothers by mimicking their attacks through battles from both the past and future. After the merge was complete, Kotaro was taken back to present day Earth being the human host of Taro and as Astromons was ravaging a city Kotaro turned into Taro. Not long after Astromons's defeat Kotaro joined ZAT and fought in a new era of kaiju. Many foes were found that would threaten the Earth, but Taro and ZAT defeated them time and again with occasional help from the other Five Ultra Brothers from the weaklings to monsters only Taro could defeat. After Samekujira attacked and Valkie fled Kotaro wanted to show the other Ultras he wanted to keep his humanity by no longer wanting to be Taro's host. Thus, he is one of the few Ultra human hosts to cut his ties with an Ultra Warrior. Characters Ultras Allies ZAT *Yutaro Asahina *Shuhei Aragaki *Kazumi Nitani *Tetsuya Kitajima *Tadao Nanbara *Jiro Nishida *Takashi Ueno *Izumi Moriyama Other Allies *Kiyoshi Shiratori *Saori Shiratori *Kenichi Shiratori *Smith *Sameshima *Captain Toru Sano *Professor Ohtani *Taka Nanbara *Tamako *Yuko Minami *Other Ultras Monsters & Aliens *Oil Drinker (1) *Astromons (1) **Tigris Flower (1) *Cosmos Liquid (2, 3) *Live King (2, 3) *Tortoise Family **King Tortoise (4, 5) **Queen Tortoise (4, 5) **Mini Tortoise (5) *Dilemma (Small and large; 6) *Ganza (7) *Tagal (7) *Tondaile (8) *Arindo (9) **Arindo Ants (9) *Depparas (10) *Basara (11) *Volkeller (12) *Sheltar (13) *Enmargo (14) *Miegon (15) *Okariyan (16) *Kemujira (Small and large; 17, 18) *Birdon (17-19) *Raidron (Parent and child; 20) *King Zemira (Small, medium and large; 21) *Pandora (22) *Chinpe (22) *Rodera (23) *Mururoa (24, 25) *Space Moths (24, 25) *Rabbidog (25) *Mukadender (26) *Mandarin Flower (27) *Alien Mefilas II (27) *Eleking II (28) *Giant Yapool II (29, 30) *Bemstar II (29, 30) *Sabotendar II (30) *Verokron III (30) *Mushra (31) **Mushroom (31) **Mushroom Human (31) *Zelkova (31) *Guron (32) *Alien Temperor (33, 34) *Alien Katan (35) *Grost (36) *Hertz (37) *Alien Medusa (37) *Alien Miracle (38) *Alien Terrorist (38) *Mochiron (39) *Tyrant (40) *Gongoros (41) *Android Seiko (42) *Elegia (42) *Motokureron (Larva and adult; 43) *Alien Kisaragi (44) *Onibanba (44) *Alien Dorzu (45) *Memole (45) *Piccolo (Small and large; 46) *Gorgosaurus "III" (47) *Gelan (Baby and adult; 47) *Space Boys (48) *Veron (48) *Orphy (49) *Alien Khan (49) *Garaking (50) *Rindon (51) *Dorobon (52) *Samekujira (53) *Alien Valkie (53) Arsenal *Ultra Badge *ZAT Cancer *Wristwatch Communicator *ZAT Bazooka *ZAT Grenade *Sky Whale *Condor No. 1 *Super Shallow *Dragon *Andromeda *Magellan *Wolf 777 *Rabbit Panda *ZAT Private Car *Iron Fish Episodes # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # '''Movies' # (Movie version of episode 1) # (Movie version of episode 11) # (Movie version of episode 25) Cast * , : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : (1-12, 14-16), (20-53) * : * , : * : (1-50, 53), (51-53) Guest cast * : * : * : * : * : * : * , : * , : * : : * , : * : * : Voice actors * : * , , , : * : * : * , , , : * , , : * : * : * : Suit actors * : * : (3) * : (18) * , : , (17, 18), (22), (46) Songs ;Opening theme * **Lyrics: Yu Aku **Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi **Artist: Taro Takemura, Lake Boys and Girls Choir ;Insert theme * **Lyrics: Yu Aku **Composition & Arrangement: Makoto Kawaguchi **Artist: Taro Takemura, Lake Boys and Girls Choir * **Lyrics: Narimitsu Taguchi **Composition & Arrangement: Toru Fuyuki **Artist: Yoshiko Fujita Notes *As the main Ultra from ''The Return of Ultraman was not yet known by it, the name "Jack" was considered for Taro. The reasoning behind this was that Jack is a popular name for fairy tale heroes in the west, but Taro was settled upon as the Japanese equivalent. ** was also considered as a name during production. *The Ultra Brothers appeared frequently in this series and it was in their later appearances that drastically changed how they appear. Examples include: Ultras with orange eyes, Jack sharing the same suit as Ultraman with more silver than red and design on the bottom looks like a female, Ultraseven without ears in episode 40 witch would happen again on the premiere of Ultraman Leo, and finally, Jack with red gloves and boots in episode 52. *Tsuburaya's tenth anniversary show, Ultraman Taro was filmed alongside and . *Due to production problems with the next series, Ultraman Leo, Tsuburaya extended Taro's run for several episodes. *'' : Ultraman Taro makes a cameo in the episode. External links * '' at Wikipedia